Improvement in harness for sailors and firemen



' 5 Sheets--Sheet 1 M. PAR ENT.

Harness for Sailors and Firemen. N l48,744 Patented March17,1874.

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5 Sheets--Sheet 2'.

Harness for Sailors and Firemen.

Patented March 17, 1874.

5 Sheets--Sheet 3. M. PAR ENT.

Harness for Sailors and Firemen. NO.]48,744. Patented March17,1874.

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Harness fph Sailors and Firemen. No.148,744, PatentedMarch17J874.

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Harness for Sailors and Firemen.

N0 ]48,744| I Patented'Marchl7,l87 4.

i-uoHnL PAnEur, or MONTREAL, CANADA.

IMPRGVEMENT IN HARNESS FOR SAlLQRS AND FIREMEN.

' Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 148,?44 dated March 17, 1874; application filed November 15, 1873.

To all wfiom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MICHEL PARENT, of Montreal, in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and valraole Improvement in a Harness for Sailors and Firemen 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and Operation of the same, referencebeinghad to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings show the application of my harness to firemen. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are detail views of my harness. Figs. 6 and 7 show the applicationof my harness to sailors.

The object of this invention is to furnish firemen with means by which they can conveniently and with perfect safety fix themselves to ladders and exercise free use of both hands while at work thereon, and which will enable them, when. necessary, to ascend and descend ladders with hose or other weights attached to them, and also which will permit a fireman to safely descend a ladder with a helpless person. The nature of my invention consists in a harness or clothing which is composed of waist, shoulder, and crotch straps, peculiarly arranged for adjustment to the body in a comfortable and secure manner, to which straps suspension and suspending hooks are attached and also certain free straps, by means of which a helpless person can be safely secured to the body of a fireman, all of which I will now describe.

In the annexed drawings, A represents a strap, which is buckled tightly around the waist. 13 13 represent two straps, which pass over the shoulders and are crossed diagonally over the breast and back. At the point where these straps cross each other over the breast they are stitched together, and have secured to them an adjustable looped strap, 0, to which a strong snap-l1ook,-G, is attached. The space between the end of hook G and the shank thereof is closed by a spring-tongue, c, which prevents accidental detachment of the hook from the round of a ladder or other object from which the fireman may be suspended, or to which he maybe attached when he desires to have free use of both his hands. 1) is a strap, which is secured to the straps B B at the point of crossing in front, and which extends down the median line of the body, and is secured by a buckle, d, to the waistbelt A, for the purpose of holding up this belt in front. The loop to which the buckle d is secured is formed on a suspending short strap, E, sewed to the waist-belt A, and buckled in front to a crotch-strap, E, which passes between the legs and is attached to the back part of the waist-belt A in the median line by means of a suspending short strap, E The diagonal straps B B are secured by buckles a a a a to hip-tugs F F, which are sewed fast to the belt A at the hips, and these straps can be shortened or lengthened to accommodate the harness to different persons. At the point where these diagonal straps or suspenders B B cross each other in the middle line of the back they are stitched together, and also have stitched to them a loop-strap, I), and a suspender-strap, G. The loop I) has attached to it a suspensionhook, H, hereinafter described, for the purpose of carrying heavy weights on the back, or for any other purpose for which it may be found useful. The strap G is carried down the middle of the back and secured by a buckle to the waist-belt A, or on an extension of the backstrap E. J J are two loose-straps, which hang down at the sides of the body, and are secured behind to the straps B B, near the point where these straps cross each other. In front the straps J J are buckled to short tugs c e on the straps B B, so that they can be shortened or let out, as circumstances require. It

is by means of the loose straps J J that a the man can safely secure a helpless person to his body and leave his hands fi'ee to assist him in descending a ladder with such person. To one of the lower ends of each hip-tug F one end of a long strap, L, is connected by a ring,

f, the other end of which strap is attached to a buckle, g, so as to form a long loop on which a snap-hook, h, is applied. To the other lower end of the same tug, F, a snap-hook is attached, by means of a short looped strap, k, and a buckle. The four snaphooks h hjj at the sides of the body are designed for carryin g weights without incommoding the arms 0 the fireman, and for fixing a person to a lad 2 Mama der. All the straps constituting my improved harness are adjustable by means of buckles, so that the harness is made to fit large or small persons, and when put on a person all the straps on the body mutually aid in sustaining each other and in keeping each other in proper position. The hook H at the back swivels in a shank, I, and has a prismatic enlargement, m, and a head, m, formed on it. Between the head on and a lug, n, on the shank l, is a spring, 8, which surrounds a pintle, t, rising from the head at, and enterin the lug at, which spring acts to keep the prismatic portion m down into a seat of corresponding shape formed into the lug, as shown in Fig. 3. By pressing the prismatic portion out of its recess the hoolrmay be turned around so as to lie close to the body in a fiatwise position, when it will be out of the way.

I11 practice I shall employ, in connection with my harness, one or more extra straps with buckles applied to them, which may be buckled around the belt convenient for use when required. I shall also carry with the harness a chain, N, shown by Fig. 5, to which a ring and a snap-hook are applied. By means of this chain N and its attachments a hose can be secured to the harness on the fireman and carried up a ladder, giving him free use of both hands while ascending the ladder.

Figs. 6 and 7 show slight modifications of the firemans harness, adapting it to the use of sailors when aloft, for, by the use of the hook 0 shown in Fi 6, without a springtongue a sailor can safely attach himself to any part of the rigging and have both hands free for manipulation thereof. In this sailors? harness the waist-belt is attached by forked straps before and behind to the crotch-strap, and a snap-hook, 1?, may be attached to the back-strap I).

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The diagonal straps B B, combined with the waist-strap A, the crotch-strap E and the suspendingstraps E E connected together by buckles and arranged substantially as described.

2. The hook G, in combination with the adjustable loop-strap O, diagonal straps B B, waist-strap A, and crotch-strap E, as and for the purpose mentioned.

3. The hook H, in combination with the loop I), the diagonal straps B B, waist-strap A, and crotch-strap E, as and for the purpose mentioned.

at. The hook hj, in combination with the diagonal straps B B, waist-strap A, suspendingstraps E and E and crotch-strap E, as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination, in a sailors or firemans harness, of the side straps J J, the diagonal suspender-straps B B, and the waist-band A, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

MICHEL PARENT.

Witnesses L. A. DESSAULLES, J. G. PAPINEAU. 

